


Excuses

by Nikkicola



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/F, i have no clue what i am doing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-23 18:11:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14338176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nikkicola/pseuds/Nikkicola
Summary: A new school year brings a lot of excitement, a little bit of dread and a couple of new faces. After meeting each other in class, Chaeyoung can't help but make excuses to spend more time with Mina, not that the other girl seems to mind.





	1. New Year, New Me

It was that time again; Bags were packed, uniforms pulled on, shoes messily slipped on and students sent tumbling out of their respective front doors, (somewhat) ready for a new year filled with education and enrichment. For a certain mousy-haired Son Chaeyoung, the somewhat applied quite aptly. Despite the impending return of her academic obligations being constantly reminded to her by a series of different people, the actual arrival of the day in late August had managed to take her off guard, causing her exit from the house to be rather a rushed one, mirrored in her untidy clothes and ruffled hair.  

Time seemed to give her a bit of a break today, and so as she half-walked, half-jogged past the gates and in the direction of her classroom, she noted that she could still make it without even having to sprint. It wouldn’t do to be late on her first day back - Dahyun and Tzuyu wouldn’t let her hear the end of it, especially since the latter probably had arrived at least half an hour prior.  
   
Speaking of those two, they were seated at some desks vaguely away from the front when Chaeyoung passed through the door with a spring in her step and several minutes to spare. They greeted her as soon as they caught sight of her walking towards them, grinning and waving only slightly maniacally, and a feeling of familiarity and _right_ -ness settled in her chest. Sure, soon life would catch up to her but right now, regardless of the very real possibility of homework from tomorrow, she was finally back and it felt _great_.

“Hey guys, wassup?” She started, putting on a silly accent as she posed the question.

“Not much.” Tzuyu replied, absentmindedly flipping through a ring binder filled with work. What the exact contents were, she wasn’t sure, they weren’t supposed to be doing anything over the holidays due to them starting their chosen subjects. Maybe it was just old work that she brought in so that she could see how heavy her folder could get. Chaeng wouldn’t put it past that girl, she was that sort of ultra-planned, super-organised person.  
   
“I did _loads_ ,” was Dahyun’s response. “There was the thing with the tennis ball and that window - turns out glass isn’t very bouncy, and then there was the old people’s home - one of the poor old dears thought I was their long-lost grandson (long story) and then tried to leave me their entire fortune which I had to refuse, graciously of course, and don’t even get me _started_ on the hospital - I mean the nurses were shocked, the doctors-”  
   
It was a miracle that she didn’t just pass out from talking until she ran out of air. There must have been many a music teacher that lamented the loss of such a large pair of lungs not being trained for use with some brass or woodwind instrument, that despised the girl’s decision to play the piano above anything else.  
   
“So what did you actually do in the end?” Chaeyoung questioned after losing track of the conversation due to the tangent in her thoughts.  
   
“Oh none of that, I was just being dramatic. Well, everything but the window incident. That was a tragic accident of tennis and hurt both my heart and my wallet significantly. I did manage to get that skateboard though!”  
   
“Skateboard, what skateboard?”  
   
“You know, the one I mentioned.” She made some vague hand gestures. “I definitely told you at some point, but I can’t remember when…STILL, I finally bought it and it’s going to be so awesome - you’re all going to be _so_ jealous of me when I show off how cool I am.”  
   
“Yeah, all two of us.” Chaeyoung muttered.  
   
“You can’t even keep it rolling yet.” Tzuyu pointed out, very deadpan in both her face and expression. “Wait until you can do at least that before you start bragging.”  
   
Dahyun pouted, obviously a little put out at the idea of the others not finding her new board as cool as she thought it was. Chaeyoung took the lull in conversation to turn back towards her Taiwanese friend.  
   
“So did you really do nothing all holiday? Not even you can spend that much time studying!”  
   
Tzuyu looked a little hesitant.  
   
“Well...I did watch the new Star Wars movie…”  
   
“How was it?”  
   
“It was pretty good, the plot was alright but the pacing could have been a bit better. Also it was quite long and there were some very, _very_ unnecessary scenes in it.”  
   
“Like what?”  
   
“Two words. Green. Milk.” She said, pausing ridiculously long between each word. “Green. Milk. My eyes cannot unsee, I will never be truly the same again.”  
   
“You know,” said Chaeyoung.”I think I’ve heard about that…”  
   
They both gave a collective shudder, the scene disturbing them in their heads to a greater extent than they would have liked to admit.  
   
“It can’t have all been that bad though,” Dahyun started. “What about all the other characters like Princess Leia, Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker?”  
   
Chaeyoung felt like facepalming.  
   
“You didn’t even see the last one did you?”  
   
“...”  
   
“...”  
   
“...”  
   
The other two just looked at her, waiting for her answer.  
   
“...ok I didn’t quite get around to seeing the last one but the characters can’t have changed too much, right? What about Yoda, or R2D2, or...or...Chewbacca?” She gave a surprisingly similar roar and lumbered around their desks, pretending to be the hairy character from the franchise to illustrate her point.  
   
Chaeyoung decided to jump in.  
   
“I don’t think you need to tell _Chewy_ here about _Chewie_. Nah, what I think would definitely be in the new film is...awesome lightsaber battles!”  
   
With that she jumped up, imaginary weapon grasped tightly in her hand, and started swinging at the opponent whilst jumping and weaving to dodge their returning attacks. To the eyes of an unenlightened person, it might have looked like she was flailing about in a seemingly random manner but as bards would surely recite impressive epics about in eons to come, she was fighting magnificently, matched in skill or courage by no other.  
   
Tzuyu, still seated, just watched the others, grinning slightly to herself. _What goofballs_.  
   
The teacher finally came in, prompting Chaeyoung and Dahyun to plop down on their chairs to avoid close scrutiny on the first day. The register was taken quickly due to there being no change in the students in their particular class and then they were each handed a copy of their own timetable, complete with a list of all the subjects they were taking, their teachers and which rooms they were in. Chaeyoung was practically buzzing when she got hers and scanned down her list of classes.  
   
_Maths? Eh._  
_English? Double eh._  
_Art? Hell yeah!_  
   
She stopped reading after that. Apart from the compulsory ones that everyone had to do, she had been allowed to pick all the subjects that she did from now on and knowing that she was actually doing it created a happy warmth in her heart which then sent it straight round her body.  
   
“Let’s compare!”  
   
They pulled their desks together, splaying the three documents across the now-shared space. The teacher had retreated behind their own desk, not bothering even try and interrupt the class just yet since they had the first lesson today just to talk to each other after the holidays and catch up.  
   
“We’re all in English next! Look!” Dahyun pointed at their second lesson of the day, jabbing her finger on each piece of paper separately. Sure enough, their timetables all said the same thing.  
   
“I don’t know why we’re only doing this now: They released this a week ago online. If you are so keen on finding out which classes we have together, we could have already figured that out.” Tzuyu remarked, seemingly unimpressed with her timetable’s treatment at the hand of Dahyun.  
   
“That’s easy enough for you to say!” Chaeyoung burst out, slightly indignant at her younger friend for even suggesting such as thing. “You’ve probably printed yours out, colour coded it and...I dunno, made some sort of fancy graphical thing representing where there are any changes between the weeks or something!”  
   
“What if I have?”  
   
“Well...that’s just _too_ organised. Anyways, it’s no fun comparing over text - it’s much better all sitting together and just looking at them.”  
   
“Yeah,” added Dahyun. “It’s like giving yourself spoilers.”  
   
“Well I like to be well prepared. Besides, this way I know what I have to bring in today.”  
   
“We don’t have to bring in anything yet - it’s the first day!”  
   
“If we do end up doing some work though, I’ll be able to file it away immediately. After all, good organisation has to start at the beginning, and be carried through the whole year.”  
   
“Is that some sort of Ancient Chinese proverb or something?” Asked Dahyun, a little confused.  
   
“Nope.” Was the response. “But it does hold an element of truth to it. You’ll see...not today, but at some point - maybe in a month’s time, a year’s time or even in a decade - but you will all see…”  
   
Her companions reacted differently to this: Dahyun looked a tad worried and quite scared.  
   
“That’s kinda creepy Tzu…”  
   
Chaeyoung on the other hand...  
   
“Yeah, all two of us will see.”  
   
...was just unimpressed.  
   
~~~  
   
“Never has an hour lasted so long.” Dahyun exclaimed, arms opening up towards the heavens above. “I _swear_ each second was taking its sweet time in passing. I have never been more glad to hear the bell. Hallelujah.”  
   
It was break time and there were students milling about everywhere, buzzing like bees around each other as they went about their ways. The sun shone on the courtyard, its rays caressing the trees and falling through the leaves onto the three girls sitting at a circular table with a slightly wonky bench.  
   
“An hour is an hour Dahyun.” Chaeyoung retorted, head slightly downwards as she doodled mindlessly in her notebook, random squiggles following the pencil lead across the page.  
   
“Technically,” Started Tzuyu, drawing a silent sigh from the shortest one out of the group. “Time is relative.”  
   
“Say _whaaaaaaaaaaat_?” Exclaimed Dahyun.

“Einstein came up with it,” the tallest continued. “It was in his theory of relativity - remember the experiment with the atomic clocks?”  
   
“That’s too much physics for my brain to handle, Tzu,” Chaeyoung said, glancing up.  
   
“Me too buddy.” Agreed Dahyun.  
   
“It’s not that complicated,” Tzuyu explained. “I was just saying that time relies on the observer. That means that the faster you are moving to that observer, the slower time moves for you.”  
   
“Well we must have been moving at light speed because that was moving at a crawl.” Dahyun said, dramatically flopping onto the table, arms out in front of her, turning to look at Tzuyu and her ever-present, impenetrable poker-face.  
   
“Yeah it was pretty bad.” Chaeyoung agreed.  
   
“At least we haven’t got that teacher all year though.” Tzuyu added, glancing up at the other two while tracing the patterns in the wooden surface with her finger.  
   
“What!?!” Exclaimed the other two, caught unawares. “When did that happen?” Continued Chae.  
   
The youngest sighed disappointedly, as if she were about to give up on the other two.  
   
“Weren’t you listening? There were issues with the timetabling so they need some time to sort that out. After that, we’ll actually have the teacher we’re supposed to have and I’ve heard that she’s good.”  
   
“That’s a relief,” Chaeyoung breathed.  
   
“You can say that again - I don’t think I could bear another episode of _The Bangers_.” Dahyun added, sitting up straight again, palms face down on the wooden surface.  
   
“I thought it was The Clangers?”  
   
“It was,” confirmed Tzuyu.  
   
“Anyways, that was only one episode.” Chaeyoung pointed out, looking over at Dahyun.  
   
“Exactly!” The girl answered, gesturing wildly in the air in time with some of her words. “And already I’m traumatised. I would wonder what her kids must have been through - but I already know! It’s a bunch of aliens in space and a freakin’ soup dragon! _A soup dragon!_ Who came up with that and what were they smoking?”  
   
Tzuyu scoffed.  
   
“At least that _was_ in English. I didn’t particularly enjoy when she went off on a tangent about their camping trip in the holidays. We couldn’t even pretend to be learning anything with that.”  
   
“Tell me about it.”  
   
Dahyun huffed, crossing her arms and looking at the other two with defensive eyes.  
   
“Say what you will but **I** do not want to spend an hour a week watching obscure british kids shows. I mean, what’s next? A talking cat toy? The sun with a baby for a face? Two puppets that live on a barge coming alive and playing the harmonica?!”  
   
“That _would_ be rather strange,” admitted Tzuyu.  
   
“I felt really sorry for the new kids though,” said Chaeyoung, jumping back into the conversation and steering it into a new topic. “That was their first class. They probably think we’re all nutters by now.”  
   
“I’m sure they’ll manage,” Tzuyu commented. “There were quite a few of them (I counted four) so if you guys _do_ get too much for them they can always band together for support.”  
   
Dahyun was outraged.  
   
“How dare you! I’ll have you know that I am _completely_ normal.” She had stood up now, alternating between pointing at both of them in a seemingly random fashion.  
   
“Yeah, sure you are,” chuckled Chaeyoung. “Go and tell that to your dance teacher.”  
   
“I’m her star student!”  
   
“...for all the wrong reasons.” Added Tzuyu.  
   
“Yah! You two!” She huffed, folding her arms to her chest and turning her back to them, nose high in the sky.  
   
Chaeyoung sighed.  
   
“Come _on_ Dahyun.”  
   
“Nope.” was the stubborn reply. “I’m not talking to either of you.”

“We just back! Come on - you can’t ignore us just yet.”  
   
“Watch me.”

“Technically,” said Tzuyu. “You’re not ignoring us.

“Yes I am.”  
   
“No you’re not.”  
   
“Come on, _pleaaaaaaaase_ ,” begged Chaeyoung.  
   
“No,” said Dahyun, picking up some of her hair with a hand and then flicking at them.  
   
“Okay, you’re not _that_ weird.”  
   
“Humph.”  
   
“I mean we are just as weird as you - we all hang out together, right?”  
   
“Yeah right.”  
   
“Come on already. You can’t keep this up all day,” groaned Chaeyoung, getting a little frustrated.  
   
“Is that a challenge?”  
   
~~~  
   
Dahyun ended up speaking to them again at the end of break when they bid each other goodbye and headed towards their respective classes. Exactly what those were, Chaeyoung had no clue - although the others had probably told her a few times already, she could barely remember which subject _she_ had next, let alone anyone else’s.  
   
She checked her timetable again, making sure that she actually was headed in vaguely the correct direction. Eventually the classroom came into sight and she wandered in, looking for any familiar faces. Even though she was a couple of minutes early, roughly half the seats were already taken, filled with people she recognised and others that she didn’t alike.  
   
The waiting teacher waved her in, telling her to choose somewhere to sit before class.  
   
_No seating plan? Cool._  
   
But there was the question of who she was going to sit with. Just then, a familiar face walked through the door and everything fell into place. Her hair was slightly longer than it had been previously, now reaching about shoulder height as opposed to the short, boyish but chic look that it had had prior to the summer.  
   
Either way, Chae could recognise her long-time friend in an instant.  
   
“Jeongyeon! I didn’t know you had Maths too!”  
   
The older girl turned at the sound of her voice and started to approach her, wrapping an arm around the shorter one’s shoulders.  
   
“Well it looks like you’re stuck with me for the whole year buddy.” She punctuated this by bringing up her hand to the other’s hair and ruffling it playfully. “So where are we sitting then, O short one?”  
   
“Hey! Stop it!” She whined in response, pushing the older girl’s hand away. She paused, surveying the spaces left to them, looking for a table with two seats left. Sitting not too far away, Chaeyoung noticed one of her other friends, Jihyo, sitting with a couple of people she’d seen around and one girl who was completely new to her.  
   
_Could get to know her,_ she thought, weighing up the options. _I mean she’s sitting with Jihyo and that girl is pretty much an angel sent to earth so she’s probably quite nice._  
   
Making her mind up, he grabbed her friends arm and dragged them over to the table. They asked if anyone was sitting there, promptly sitting down when the others responded with a negative.  
   
They didn’t get any time to chat, however, as the teacher started the class pretty much immediately, just as the last few students had trickled in. Soon everyone was wrestling with the very essence of hell itself personified into number form: Surds. Questions upon questions rolled in waves on the paper they were printed on as the sheets fluttered to their desks, each uniform in their monotony and monochrominity. Chaeyoung was struggling somewhat, not entirely on board with working with numbers, and so when there was a lull in quiet she leant over slightly and poked her friend with the blunt end of her pencil.  
   
“Psst...Hey, Jeongyeon, you’re growing out your hair aren’t you?”  
   
The taller girl didn’t look up, still scribbling on her page as she answered. “Yeah, I thought I’d try a different look this year - I was tired of being mistaken for a guy all the time...”  
   
“Ah I see…” She didn’t really know how to respond to that. “It looks good by the way - it’s kinda cool.”

“Oh it’s not done,” the older girl interjected. “I want my hair to be even longer. I’m going to grow it all the way down to here so it’s super long.” She gestured to her hip as Chaeyoung’s eyes widened in surprise.  
   
“You’re going to grow it that long?” She exclaimed in a loudish whisper.  
   
“Ok, maybe not _that_ long.” Jeongyeon admitted. “Maybe about shoulder length.”  
   
“I was gonna say. That would be a nightmare to wash if you ever did that - plus it’d take such a long time before it’d even get there.”  
   
“I just want it to be like it used to be.” She said, glancing up for a second.  
   
“I can understand that. Besides, I remember what your hair was like before and I remember thinking _wow, she’s pretty_ so I’d say go for it. It’ll look really good- wait!” She stopped immediately, a thought occurred to her. “Does this mean that I can no longer call you hyung?”  
   
Jeongyeon looked puzzled. “What?”  
   
Chaeyoung was adamant. “Dude, I can’t call you hyung anymore - you don’t have short hair!”  
   
Understanding rose up into her eyes, the shorter’s meaning finally dawning on her. She pushed her fringe out of her eyes and looked at the other girl, scoffing a little.  
   
“Is that the only reason? We were calling each other bro _long_ before you cut yours - and by that logic, we shouldn’t even be pretending to be bros because, you know, we’re not even guys.”  
   
There was a short pause between them, neither opting to speak.  
   
“Dude.” Chae started, but didn’t finish. She didn’t actually have anything to say yet, but had felt like she had to break the silence.  
   
Jeongyeon held eye contact for a few seconds, then returned to the Maths. Chaeyoung on the other hand decided not to turn back to her work, but instead turned to the new girl next to her, tapping her gently on the arm, intent on introducing herself and learning a little more about her seat-neighbor.  
   
“Hi, I’m Chaeyoung. Who are you?”  
   
She finally got to see the other girl’s face. Her side profile had already revealed much about the smooth curve of her cheek bones and the definite edge of her jaw where it met the air around it but now, sitting there face-to-face, the rest of her delicate features could be easily observed. She had large, expressive eyes crowned with soft eyebrows; a petit nose; smooth, unbroken lips; and a small, round chin tucked underneath it all. Long strands of hair flowed free against the woven background of her jumper, whilst others had been pulled back behind an ear, revealing a simple black necklace with a penguin charm on it pressed against the silky skin of her neck. Her expression she wore was confused, puzzled and a little bit surprised.  
   
“Oh, umm...hi? I’m Mina.”  
   
Her voice was soft, quiet and easy to miss amongst all the other muttered hubbub in the room. She had spoken with a hesitance, perhaps due to a combination of shyness and the slight accent that accompanied her words.  
   
“Mina huh? That’s a nice name. So...I’m guessing you’re not from here?”  
   
“Yes, I was born in the America,” Mina replied, confidence flowing into her speech. “I have visited Korea once or twice. I liked it a lot before so I asked my parents if I could study here.” Her speech was a little stilted and there were a couple of dodgy phrases but Chaeyoung guessed that it probably was a symptom of speaking a foreign language. Overall, she was very impressed.  
   
“Woah that’s so cool! Your Korean is really good by the way - I can barely even tell that you’re a foreigner!”  
   
The other girl looked a little flustered. “Thank you but I’m not that good. I still have much to learn - but that’s why I’m here.”  
   
“Well I think you’re good,” she pouted, pausing for a moment, feeling a little bit of stubbornness rise up within her because of her (kind of) rejected sentiment. “So you speak English then?”  
   
“Oh no, I was just born in America, I don’t live there. My parents teach English but I’ve actually grew up in Japan.”  
   
Before she could respond, she was cut off by the person on her right.  
   
“Who’s from Japan?” Jeongyeon asked, peeling her eyes away from the endless numbers for a few seconds.  
   
Chaeyoung beamed at her. “Mina here.” Said japanese girl flashed her a sheepish smile.  
   
“Have you met Momo yet? She’s also from Japan.”  
   
“Momo?” She questioned, confusion evident on her face. “Momo as in...peach?”  
   
“Yeah, it’s a bit of a quirky name but she’s quite a character so it fits her well.” Jeongyeon confirmed nodding her head several times and then waiting for a response. Mina just uttered a simple “oh” and then looked back down at her work, furrowing her brows and puzzling something over in her head.  
   
Since Jeongyeon had followed suit, Chaeyoung felt like she should check that everything was alright with the Japanese girl. She nudged her.  
   
“You alright?”  
   
“Yeah.”  
   
A moment passed.  
   
“You sure?”  
   
“Yes.” She now seemed to be contemplating something really deeply. “Well...actually…”  
   
What was it? What had got her so hung up?  
   
“...what does qwerkee mean?”  
   
“Qwerkey?” Chaeyoung asked, perplexed.  
   
“Yes, qwerkey,” Mina confirmed. “Jeongyeon said it a minute ago. What does it mean?”  
   
Had Jeongyeon said anything like that earlier? She didn’t think so. Casting her mind back, she racked her brains, trying to remember exactly what she had- _o_ _h._  
   
“You mean _quirky_. That makes more sense.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “It means...umm...sorta strange. If a person is quirky it means that they are kinda weird in some way.”  
   
“ _Ahh_ , I see. Thank you.” She looked a lot better now, comforted by knowing the meaning of the word.  
  
_It must be tough,_ thought Chaeyoung. _Having to speak a completely different language in school. I hope she manages alright and doesn’t struggle too much._  
   
Speaking of struggling…  
   
She still had about 5 questions left to go, each with approximately ten billion unrelated parts. It just seemed to sprawl down the page, an unending vortex of maths spiraling ever-down.

 _Question 4. For each part simplify as much as possible._  
   
Ok.  
   
_She could do this._  
   
√25  
   
_Well that’s easy, that’s just five._  
   
√9  
  
_That’s three._  
   
√18  
   
_Huh. That’s a bit harder._  
   
She poked Jongyeon.

“Hey, have you done this question yet? What answer did you get?” The other girl just grumbled in response.

“Urgh. Just do it yourself.”  
   
_Ok, she’s going to be no help._  
  
_Umm…_  
   
_Well eighteen divided by two gives nine so you could write it as √2 x √9…_

_What does that go to though? Well, she’d already done root nine so…_

“Eh, it’s probably two root three.” She muttered to herself, writing the numbers down messily in her book.

She had started to look at the next question when she felt a light tap on her left arm. Looking up, she made eye contact with Mina. She gave her a questioning look, wondering why she had been disturbed just as she had actually started working.  
   
“Umm...I think the answer is three root two, not two root three.” She said, pointing at the freshly scrawled digits on the page. “Root nine is three and root two stays root two.”

Glancing down, she saw that she had indeed messed the numbers up.

“Oh right, cheers. My hand has a mind of its own sometimes,” she joked, correcting her mistake quickly. “Maths really isn’t my thing.”

At this Mina raised one of her eyebrows slightly.

“Oh really?” She then smirked a little and pushed some wayward hair out of her face. This drew Chaeyoung’s attention to her ears, specifically the metal in them.  
   
“Nice earrings by the way.” She blurted, probably stopping the other girl from going back to her work. “Do you have some sort of penguin theme going on?”  
   
“Eh?”  
   
“I mean you’re wearing a penguin necklace and penguin earrings.”  
   
“Oh yeah. I like them. That’s why I have those.” She smiled sunnily at the shorter, managing to show her gums in the process. It was nice.

She then turned back to her work, but Chaeyoung kept on looking at her. In that moment, she decided that she was going to get to know this girl better.


	2. Paint Me A Sad Song

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chaeyoung doesn't like art class. Idk.

 

The thing about going back to school is that in all of those days leading up to it you can’t imagine having to spend your time going to classes, but when it actually starts up again you can’t remember it being any different. Only a couple of days had passed but already homework was being dished out with all the sadistic zeal of that one dinner lady in the canteen who took joy in dolloping huge amounts of formless mash potato swimming in who-knows-what onto the plates of unsuspecting students. Some people had very different ways of dealing with this: Tzuyu did all of hers both immaculately and immediately, making sure that everything was well-researched, well-thought-out and just generally well done; Dahyun on the other hand would straight up do the bare minimum, handing in as little as possible to keep herself out of trouble to free up her time for other things; Chaeyoung fell somewhere between the two, sometimes producing half-decent works and sometimes producing a hurried scrawl or panicked last-minute _something_ to satisfy the criteria.

The trio were currently hanging out in the library, sandwiched between the table and their too-tightly-tucked-in chairs because of how little space there was from their neighbors. Despite being near the back, they could still feel the librarian’s disapproving glare pressing down on their backs, imprinting a primal fear onto them and keeping their voices from going louder than a gentle chatter.

Chaeyoung sighed, cheek resting on her palm as Tzuyu typed away on her laptop. Dahyun looked up from her phone (probably on Instagram) and examined her smaller friend.

“What’s wrong, got a case of the Thursday blues?”

Chaeyoung chuckled slightly.

“Is that even a thing?”

“Well it is now,” she replied defiantly. “So what’s up? Or are you just feeling a little hexatonic?”

“Hexa what?”

“Oh never mind! Just tell me why you look so gloomy already!”

She sighed again.

“It’s nothing really. It’s just- well my art cla- urgh I’m just being stupid, ignore me.”

“But I thought that you liked art?”

“I _doooo_ ,” she started, frustration creeping into her voice. “It’s just...we don’t get to actually draw _anything_ that we want to do - we have all these assignments that we have to follow and the style always has to be realistic and I’m sick of it. It’s super boring,” she looked down tracing the patterns in the wood. “I think maybe I made the wrong choice studying it.”

Tzuyu looked up.

“It’ll help your art in the long run.”

“ _I know_ ,” groaned Chaeyoung, leaning on the last vowel significantly. “But it isn’t _fun_. I’m just not enjoying it.” She finished this off with a dramatic slump onto her crossed arms, head lolling to one side.

Dahyun grinned.

“Weeeeeeeeeell, art sucks soooooooo…”

Chaeyoung ignored her hyper best friend, keeping her eyes looking downwards and her face partially hidden from sight. A long huff of air could be heard escaping her lips.

“Maybe I should drop it.” It tumbled from her, uncensored and bare, phrased liked a passing thought but really a persistent doubt disguised as something less.

“And do what? You hate pretty much everything else.”

“I do but...we’re only going to do portraits and still life for a while now and... _I just hate it._ I thought we’d get a chance to doodle and try out different styles but obviously not. I mean I’d even settle for doing _abstract_ right now.”

“Like van Goth? ...or whatever his name was...” Asked Dahyun.

“It’s van **Gogh** but I assume you actually meant Picasso.” Said Tzuyu.

“What’s the difference?”

“Well,” started Tzuyu, stopping what she was doing to address the others with her eyes. “Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter and is one of the most influential figures in the history of Western art. He created around 2,100 artworks, including 860 oil paintings. Picasso on the other hand was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and playwright who spent most of his adult life in France. Again, he is regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century and helped to develop and explore several different styles.”

Chaeyoung sprung up in her seat, disbelief scrawled all over her face.

“How do you even know that?!”

“What Yoda sorcery is this?”

Tzuyu just smirked, pushing a stray strand of hair behind her unique ears.  

“I just knew it.”

“Woah, really?” Dahyun was amazed- wide-eyed and as astounded as a child at their first magic show. Unfortunately for her the youngest grinned, gesturing to her laptop and shattering the fragile illusion beyond repair.

“Nope. I just used Wikipedia.”

“Oh.” Said both Chaeyoung and Dahyun, dumbstruck.

A moment passed.

Chaeyoung was the first to speak.

“I feel really stupid now.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Not really - it’s just tunnel vision,” Tzuyu explained. “Sometimes you’re so focused on something that you can’t see anything past or around it. My laptop was already there which meant you had grown accustomed to its presence, meaning that I just had to distract you with the information and you would get overwhelmed, therefore preventing you from putting two and two together.”

The others made sounds of understanding, following the always flawless logic of their taller friend.

“Another example would be your issue with Art class, Chae.” At this a sour look appeared on the girl in question’s face. “You’re so worried about the realism that you can’t see anything outside of it and therefore you’re probably missing things that might help you.”

“ _Sure I am_.”

“No really ther-”

“Hey look there’s Jeongyeon!” Dahyun exclaimed, cutting over Tzuyu and gaining a personalised glare from the librarian in the process. She shrank slightly, withering under gaze. “Let’s go talk to them.” This time, she spoke with in a slightly hushed whisper, eyes averted from the dreaded desk at the front of the library.

The other two looked at Chaeyoung.

“It’s fine with me.”

They all gathered their things, packing them away safely while Tzuyu shut down her laptop and put it in its case. Navigating the sea of narrow gaps between tables and dodging the various bags that poked out, almost unseen. Eventually they arrived at their destination, trading greetings with its occupants: Jeongyeon, Momo, Mina and Nayeon.

“Why hello there, what brings you here on this fine morning?” Jeongyeon drawled, fake voice spilling from her lips.

“We just came to say hi.”

“Is that so?”

“Well,” said Dahyun. “It was either that or listen to Chaeyoung moan about art class all day.”

“Yah!”

Nayeon got up from her chair (albeit with some difficulty) and made her way over, making grabby motions with her arms and pouting slightly.

“What’s wrong? Tell Mummy Nayeon all your problems…” She was now hugging Chaeyoung quite forcefully, although the girl in question thought that enveloped would be far more accurate. She could barely breathe!

“No! Get off! Get off!” She protested, pushing at the arms that caged her in.

“That’s what she said.”

Nayeon’s grip slacked, Jeongyeon’s jaw dropped, everyone turned to face the last person that had spoken, shock on their faces. Momo looked a tad confused (as always) and met their curious/shocked gazes with a puzzled one of her own.

“What?”

Everyone sighed.

Chaeyoung took the opportunity to step away from her unnie and face palming at her friends.

“Okaaaaaaaay...well that happened.” Jeongyeon started. “ _Moving on._ What’s this about art problems? Do tell us Chae, I want us all to be able to _draw_ our own conclusions.”

A large (but still hushed) groan was released by the group. Despite them knowing that the No Jam Bros liked making _awful_ puns, they had never quite acclimatised, resulting in the same reactions each time. The other Bro grinned recognising the challenge and searching for an apt but prompt response.

“Well,” she started. “You see hyung, I like doodling in my spare time but actually studying the subject really puts the _pain_ in painting.”

The group’s reaction was pretty much the same. The only person who didn’t react at all was Mina. _Maybe she didn’t understand,_ thought Chaeyoung. _She’s quite good at Korean but you can’t always be sure. I better check_.

“Get it Mina?”

The foreign girl looked at the sound of her name, her reply short and concise.

“Yes.”

“Oh. What...do you think?” _Welp, she did understand. Whoops._

“It was...bad -but not.”

“What do you mean...it was bad but not?”

“It was not good but it was not bad. It is normal.”

“Normal?”

“I think the word is...unremarkable?”

Dahyun and Tzuyu whispered a “ooh burn” in the background. Chaeyoung felt her pride puff up a little at this, but she suppressed the urge to defend herself, knowing fully well that it would only end up in her height being brought up against her.

“So I don’t even get a groan?”

“No.”

“Not even a little tiny huff?”

“No”

“I’ll have to try harder next time then.”

The older girl smirked.

“Okay.”

“Careful,” warned Jeongyeon. “This one’s hard to impress.”

Tzuyu scoffed.

“This should be interesting.” Said Momo, absentmindedly playing with Dahyun’s hair while said girl leaned her head on her shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm just a fool it turns out. One more chapter coming right up!


	3. Gotta Get Your Head In The Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chaeyoung fails at puns and basketball. Not in that order.

 

Believe it or not, the first time Chaeyoung tried to make good on her promise wasn’t break time the following day, but actually before that. It was her first lesson of the day and her absolute  _ favourite _ class, Sport.

To her, Sport was a  _ highly treasured _ subject, and she would only rather sketch in her sketchpad, watch _ that _ scene from Star Wars again, adopt a whole crowd of meerkats trying to sell her car insurance (she blamed her English teacher for that gem), or do practically  _ anything _ else. 

Okay, so maybe exercise wasn’t her favourite pastime. Maybe it had something to do with having to change in cramped changing rooms with several of her classmates; then run about in a plain embarrassing manner, watching the especially sporty ones better her in every way several times; and then having to get changed back into her uniform again - but this time all sweaty and stinking up the place because she had forgotten to bring deodorant.

But hey, isn’t that just everyone’s definition of fun?

A good thing about all this suffering, though, was that she wasn’t completely alone in it. The trio all matched with their ill-fitting, old t-shirts and loose shorts, battered and complaining trainers hanging on their feet. Tzuyu somehow still rocked the look but then again she made everything look effortless, even the warm up (running several times round the sports hall) with Dahyun and Chaeyoung trailing behind her, gasping and proclaiming that they were not made by God just for torture such as this.

When it came to the stretching, however, Chaeyoung was definitely leagues behind the other two. She lamented her lack of ability to touch her toes and glared at the remaining centimeter she had to reach. To be fair, she was doing a lot better than Momo, whose limbs seemed to be planets apart in comparison.

The teacher then gathered them all together, telling them all that this term they would be doing basketball. To start off, they were all told to pair up and grab a ball to pass between them. 

This was where being in a trio really became testing - no matter how much you try, someone is always going to end up left out. When they had discovered this lower down in the school, they had decided upon a rota where each person would have a turn being the one to find someone else. With a quick glance over to the others, Chaeyoung confirmed that it was going to be her today.

She signed, brushing some of the dirt from the floor off her legs while standing up.  _ Time to see who I’m going to be with this lesson.  _ Most people had already paired up, and all the usual suspects were chatting or laughing along with their partners. There was one person, however, who was looking slightly lost and very familiar.

“Hi, Mina,” she said, sidling up to the Japanese girl and poking her in the arm. “Wanna be partners?”

“Sorry, what?” She said, jumping slightling at the contact.   


“Partners? Yes or no?”

“Oh right...umm...yes.” She smiled, her face relaxing and showing her gums a little.  _ Cute _ .

“...Cool. Yeah.”

Chaeyoung pushed a stray bang out of her eyes, taking a moment to examine her company. To be honest, it looked like Mina was dressed more for a sponsored modelling shoot than pe with how perfectly her tank top hugged her figure in all the right places, her shorts only emphasising how smooth and  _ long  _ her legs were and shooting a bit of jealousy through Chaeyoung’s system. She looked down at her beaten trainers and cursed them a little, willing them to be less tired so they could support her and be like that pair of Dahyun’s shoes that she had found insoles in.

Fortunately, she was saved from having to stand there, saying nothing and fiddling with the hem of her loose shorts, by having to go and get a ball from the equipment cupboard. When she came back she found Mina glancing round at the other pairs, watching them as they did the activity. Chaeyoung handed her the ball and walked a little distance away, leaving the other girl to look blankly at it for a couple of seconds.

“Like this?”

The ball landed squarely at Chaeyoung’s chest height, making it easy to catch even for her.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, okay.”

A moment passed.

“So,” started Mina, throwing the ball back. “How are you?”

Chaeyoung caught it, feeling the slight bumps on its surface against her hands as she gripped it and pulled it into her chest.

“I’m alright,” she replied, chucking it vaguely in Mina’s direction but going a bit to the right. “Sport isn’t my thing though.”

Her partner lunged, fingers barely slipping past it in her attempt, huffed, and then ran after it. She caught up quickly, bouncing it on the floor a couple of times to get control before securing it in her arms and coming back to Chae.

“It’s not that bad.”

Chaeyoung gave her a disbelieving look, as if to say ‘really?’ with nothing but her eyes alone. 

“It really is. Who wants to spend an hour running around and getting all stinky? Besides, I’m just not made for sweating”

Mina looked confused.

“You mean this?” She said, gesturing with her free hand out and away from her body. “Water? Body water?”

“Yeah.”

“Ah. Really?” She arched her brow, silently challenging her and giving her a mirth-filled look of mischief.

“Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little but I just don’t like it. It’s tiring and makes me feel icky.”

She broke off, another person running between them to retrieve a run-away ball. This seemed to remind Mina that they should be passing, not talking. Chaeyoung fumbled the catch, but didn’t drop it by some miracle.

“I do not like this to be honest.” Admitted Mina, making passing gestures.

“Passing? Why not?”

She sighed.

“I enjoy it, playing the games, but it is boring to practice.”

Chaeyoung gave a mock gasp.

“Don’t tell me...you  _ actually like _ exercise?!” Mina nodded in confirmation.

“But you don’t like sport.”

“Well,  _ yeah _ . It’s a lot of effort and-”

It was at that point that they were interrupted by the teacher, calling them back in so that she could show them the next drill, with the help of two pairs. Luckily, she was well-acquainted with the class, and knew to call upon the sporty ones leaving Chaeyoung safe and sound to sit on the floor for a couple of minutes, feigning paying attention. 

She settled down, sticking her arms behind her on the floor so she could lean back slightly- only to recoil a little when she accidently touched a patch of dry mud that _some_ _genius_ had already managed to tread into the room. Hugging in her legs, she let her eyes idle about instead, sweeping aimlessly over the people in tune to a stream of thoughts about them. 

Eventually she settled on Mina, watching her eyes squint slightly and her head tilt as she meticulously took in the instructions -  _ trying to understand them perhaps? _ Occasionally she’d mutter something on her breath, sampling words on her lips. She couldn’t claim that she knew the girl all that well: They had only seen each other two or three times since they had first met earlier that week (not that she had been counting) and she seemed to be growing a strong friendship with Sana and Momo already, starting to integrate herself into their group and hanging out with them, wherever they went. 

_ Where did they hang out? _

A good question, she reflected. It seemed to change yearly, based upon which rooms they could be in without being disturbed. Sometimes that would be with Jihyo, Nayeon and Jeongyeon’s group but it didn’t seem like the case this time around, as they had only made their appearances in the library at break times so far.

_ I guess I’ll have to ask one of them _ , she thought.  _ It might be useful to know where to find them if I need to. _

Her thoughts strayed once more, drifting from random snippets of gossip that she had heard flittering around to homework and classes as she waited for the teacher to finish. After that they were dismissed, sent off to find another pair and practice. Chae only needed to glance over at Dahyun and Tzuyu to beckon them over, quickly forming the group before anyone got abducted by someone else. 

They had a quick...kerfuffle over which ball they should use, with Dahyun promptly declaring hers to be the bounciest of the two, even though there was little difference in heights when they were both dropped. It was only when Tzuyu interrupted the ensuing argument about bouncing and “What do you know about height?!” by snatching a random one and telling both of them that they were both short compared to her, stopping them immediately, much to Mina’s confused relief.

They set up quickly after that, each of them getting into their positions and clarifying what  _ exactly _ they were supposed to be doing (since half of them weren’t actually listening).

Chaeyoung started off feeding, passing the ball to Mina whose job it was then to get the ball past the defenders (Dahyun and Tzuyu) before attempting to shoot. She did what she was supposed to do, but she had to admit the girl was really elegant. She danced past her opponents with her tied-back hair, shoes squeaking, pink-faced and in total command. She sprung from the floor with perfect posture, toes vertical to the floor and she let the ball fly from her hands in a smooth arc as it came closer and closer to the hoop…

...only to bounce clatteringly off the backboard and lurch in a random direction at the same time she was wrenched back to the ground. She pouted slightly before running off to go and fetch the ball back.

Chaeyoung was up next, facing Tzuyu on the right and Mina on the left. After receiving an  _ awful _ pass from Dahyun that didn’t even go remotely near her and demanding another try, she was ready to go, poised to catch the ball and get this over with. Just then, an idea popped into her head- a brilliant, awful yet amazingly punny idea- that she could pull off immediately.

And so as she caught the ball, she turned immediately on her heels to face a certain defender, grin already bursting.

“Hey Mina!” She called. “Guess what? I’m having a **_ball_**.”

She beamed over at the other girl, pleased with the head-shaking reaction that she got.

“That is not funny!” She called back, her poker face in full effect along with a pretend bored tone. Chaeyoung just scoffed.

“You found it hilarious secretly!” She teased as the older girl walked closer. “Admit it!”

“No,” she denied, a small smirk beginning to play upon her lips. “It is more funny when you say ‘I had a ball’.” In the few seconds where Chaeyoung’s brain whirred she stalked further forwards, closing the gap between the two-

“Wait wha-”

-and snatched the ball right from underneath her nose.

“Hey! Wh-wh- that’s unfair!” Chaeyoung spluttered, caught completely defenseless.

“You are too slow.” Quipped Mina back.

The other two “oooh-ed” in the background.  _ Whose side were they on here? _

“You got  _ played _ Chae.”

“You should concentrate more.” Added Tzuyu.

Chaeyoung’s ego wasn’t saved from a (very slight) bruising. She walked over to where she was supposed to be defending, a little annoyed at how well she had been bested. Mina looked over and sent her a small smile, happiness peeking through her eyes and a challenge slipping on her tongue.

“You will have to attempt harder next time.”

“Bring it on,” Chaeyoung replied, eagerness surging up inside her at the sweet suggestion of another chance to prove herself. “I’ll get you next time.”

They then turned back to the drill, Chaeyoung just managing to duck out of the way of a stray ball on its way to the hoop, courtesy of Dahyun.

“Watch it!”

“It wasn’t my fault - you’ve gotta get’cha head in the game!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, that should be all of the chapters I have already - I'll probably have the next update finished in a few weeks at most. Thanks for reading :D
> 
> (Also google tried to correct meerkats to marketeers and it's so fitting I love it)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm just trying out what it is like to post here...
> 
> I do already two more chapters of this up on aff under the same name if you want to read more but right now I'm just trying to figure out how this site works etc. so I might not upload the other chapters straight away.


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